The United Arab Emirates banned a popular Mideast business website and magazine on Wednesday for publishing what the authorities alleged was “false news.”
Adam Schreck of the Associated Press reports, “An editor who answered the phone at Arabian Business declined to comment, and other officials at the magazine and its parent company ITP Media Group did not respond to queries.
“The magazine recently reported that courts in Dubai were in the process of liquidating dozens of failed real estate projects in the boomtown, which weathered a severe property slump as part of the global financial crisis in 2009.
“It soon deleted the online article and posted an apology online Friday. It said the piece was an ‘oversight’ and related to projects dating from 2010 that are ‘now outdated.’
“But by then, the article had already been picked up by other publications, including in Qatar, attracting the ire of Emirati authorities and state-linked media.
“The Dubai media office said Saturday on Twitter that it ‘ruled out a report published by Arabian Business (and) copied by Qatari media’ about the projects.”
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